NP: Bielefeld

[Daniel Julius]

This is so great!  Thank you, David

--
Dan


On 11/1/07, David Casseres <david.casseres at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> The following is shamelessly lifted from a discussion board:
>
> -----------------------------------------
>
>
> Even 42 years ago, when I last lived in Germany, the city of Bielefeld had
> a mysterious and somewhat other-worldly aura. A humorous way to say goodbye,
> for example, went like this:
>
> *Wir sehen uns wieder...
> wenn nicht in dieser Welt,
> also doch in Bielefeld.*
>
> (We will see each other again, if not in this world then for sure in
> Bielefeld.)
>
> Over the last fifteen years or so, it seems that a growing number of
> Germans have begun to question whether the thousand-year-old city of 300,000
> really is what it claims to be. If you think about it, have you ever met *
> anyone* who comes from Bielefeld? Almost no one can, even among Germans,
> and those who have find that their memories are only of anonymous people
> with vacant expressions and robotic movements. Have you ever actually *
> been* in Bielefeld? Or do you know anyone who has? I thought not.
>
> There are other eery facts:
>
> 1. Rather remarkably for a country with an astonishing array of local and
> regional accents, all instantly recognizable, there is no Bielefeld accent.
> None. The accent simply does not exist at all, in anyone's memory. One
> wonders why.
>
> 2. Up until October of 2006, Google Earth placed the city of Bielefeld *inside
> a forested area*. When people began raising questions, Google hurriedly
> "fixed" their maps. Or were they manipulated? The city has no tourist
> attractions and no federal offices, and although it sits on the major
> railway line that runs from Dortmund to Berlin, no one can remember seeing
> the city center, or even the interior of the Bielefeld train station (always
> under reconstruction, supposedly).
>
> 3. In 1999, a press release appeared that claimed to come from the city
> council of Bielefeld. It was entitled *Bielefeld gibt es doch!!!* (Bielefeld
> does indeed exist!) But the date on the press release was April 1, 1999, and
> few Germans believe in its authenticity.
>
> 4. Bielefeld apparently has a professional soccer team, known as Arminia
> Bielefeld, but it came to public awareness *only after the existence of
> Bielefeld was publicly questioned*. Photos of the team are notable for
> their robotic rigidity, even by German standards. For example:
>
> http://www.dw-world.de/popups/popup_lupe/0,,1400913_ind_1,00.html
>
> 5. Humorists and conspiracy theorists have had a field day with the
> Bielefeld problem, but the fact remains that the city occupies a position at
> the intersection of two Ley Lines, a feature it shares only with one other
> place in the world: Area 51, located near Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada.
>
> More details: http://www.bielefeldverschwoerung.de/
>
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